


breaking into ice rinks for a smile

by whichstar



Category: Marvel 616, Silk (Comics)
Genre: Betrayal, Breaking and Entering, Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Ice Skating, Illegal Activities, Light Angst, Partners in Crime, Soft Felicia Hardy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29815998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whichstar/pseuds/whichstar
Summary: "Thanks, boss. I needed that.""Employee satisfaction is one of my top priorities," Felicia replied dryly.Silk snickered before gently nudging shoulders with Felicia. "You're not all bad, Cat."No, she thought. I'm worse.-Where Felicia attempts to comfort her favorite spider, then gets betrayed at the end. Because there are no streets when it comes to bad or good.
Relationships: Felicia Hardy/Cindy Moon
Kudos: 3





	breaking into ice rinks for a smile

**Author's Note:**

> So, I read the Silk comics... now enjoy my new obsession

Felicia almost missed Silk when scouring the roof, eyes skipping over the black and silver suited spider who blended into the shadows. It was the red mask that gave her away.

Silk was sitting, knees pulled up, leaning against the outcropping that housed the stairs. Her eyes were unfocused and brows knitted together. It was obvious that she was distracted; she didn't even flinch when Felicia landed on the same roof. Eyes still fixed on the moon. So much for her so called silk-sense.

"What's up Silky-smooth," the purr died in her throat as she saw the unmistakable red of an injury. Concern filled her body, instinct taking over. She strode over to the spider in big steps, crouching down in front of her to examine more closely.

There was a scrape right below her right eye. Another on the left side of her forehead. Nothing as major as other injuries Felicia had seen the girl nurse. Still, she tamped down the wave of fury that rose and the immediate question of who did this to you?

Silk's eyes flitted from side to side before finally meeting Felicia's. She looked so defeated, so vulnerable and sad in that second, her dark eyes pools of moonlight full of grief.

"I'm never going to find them, am I?" Silk whispered.

"Find who?" Felicia asked, not daring to breathe.

"...nothing," Silk buried her face in her knees, involuntarily wincing when she accidentally stabbed the scrape below her eye with her knee.

Felicia's hand instinctively rose to caress the girl's face before she caught herself and lowered it. She was no stranger to pain, but seeing Silk in it ripped her own heart into shreds. Her heart ached to comfort, but she didn't know how.

So she waited patiently for Silk to start talking when she was ready, hoping her presence would alleviate some of the pain. She took a seat next to Silk, watching the ex-hero raise her head slowly.

"Do you ever," Silk started but then stopped. She took a shuddering breath.

Felicia was silent.

Her eyes slid over to Felicia, turning her face slightly. "Were you ever curious why I lashed out after you saved me from the Repairman?"

Felicia shrugged, "I assumed it was because the ceiling killed him."

A desolate huff of amusement escaped Silk's mouth, her eyes crinkled slightly. Felicia hated how her heart swelled in pride at causing that expression.

"I never properly said thank you for saving me." Silk said thoughtfully, turning her head to face forward. "But I was angry because he had information on my parents."

Felicia's blood turned to ice.

"It was like I was falling into an endless pit, saw an outstretched hand, reached for it, and then the hand retracted before I could grab it." Silk continued, her expression more sad than angry. "Giving me hope then taking it all away, just like that."

Felicia watched with growing dread as a tear tracked down Silk's face. The ex-hero whispered, "I haven't seen them in over ten years."

Her eyes widened. "I- I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Silk said quietly, her chin on her knees. She stared down at the floor, nothing else to add.

Pinpricks of guilt poked at Felicia's conscience. She couldn't stop from asking, because she _needed_ to know. "Is that why you're out here?"

"I was chasing down a lead," Silk replied absent-mindedly. "Dead end."

Felicia withheld from pointing out the scrapes on Silk's face clearly needed ointment or asking about what the lead was. The night air felt too fragile to ask such a personal question.

"I was looking at the moon," Silk pointed upwards, reaching out as if to cup the space rock in her hands. "My high school boyfriend always compared me to it.

"He gave me an anklet with a moon as a gift once," Silk's voice took a faraway tone, as if watching a memory in her mind. The moon awashed her face in an ethereal glow. "I never took it off, that's why I like anklets more than bracelets now."

Felicia raised an eyebrow, not sure where this was going. A spark of jealousy had erupted at the mention of a high school boyfriend but she ignored it for now.

"He told me while gifting it, 'a moon for my Moon'." Silk sighed wistfully. "We were going to go to college together, but I had to leave him." She shook herself out of the memory, face souring as if she was reliving a bad memory. "Probably for the best, he's engaged now. I don't even know why I'm telling you this."

Felicia didn't know either, but she didn't want this sudden sharing session to stop. She was hanging onto every whispered word. Secretly, she was glad that Silk had broken up with that ex-boyfriend of hers.

"Well, you can tell me more," Felicia offered. She rushed to explain herself. "I've heard that talking things out help."

"That's what my therapist says," Silk snorted, her expression still melancholic. She was silent before speaking again. "I started liking hockey because my dad was the one who taught me to ice skate. He was always busy, but when we were on the ice? That was our moment."

With the way her eyes lit up when mentioning hockey, it was pretty obvious to Felicia that it was something Silk highly enjoyed.

"He took me to a hockey match once, and I was never the same." Sadness colored her tone. "I've only skated once since I got out and that was for a stake out."

Felicia was too afraid to ask what _got out_ meant. She made the mental note to take Silk ice skating in the future, and that she liked anklets.

Swiftly, Silk changed the subject. "I like the original Pokémon because my brother and I watched it together. It played every Saturday morning while mom was making breakfast. My mom's the most dedicated person I know, she always pushed me to do better."

Felicia's chest ached even more. Guilt swallowing her for possibly destroying one of the only leads Silk had, even if she didn't know at the time. "You're family sounds amazing."

"Yeah," Silk breathed out. She blinked quickly, fighting tears.

Slowly, steadily, Silk leaned her head on Felicia's shoulder. Felicia's breath hitched at the contact, her body suddenly a bundle of nerves. She willed herself to stay still.

The sounds of the the city faded in the background as blood roared in her ears. Silk's side was pressed up against hers, warming her up in the chilly night. The honks of cars and bustle of the people below them were irrelevant in this little pocket of time.

"I'm tired, Cat." Her voice was small. "I'm tired of constantly running into dead ends."

The nickname Silk had taken to calling Felicia made her heart shudder violently.

"We'll find them," Felicia promised before she could even think it through. Her gut dropped when she heard the words come out of her own mouth, barely believing she said them. Helping to find Silk's parents meant that Silk would have to reveal her identity, and Felicia knew how everyone was about their secret identities. Felicia herself had never cared much about hers.

Silk sighed. They stayed like that, watching the moon rise in the sky. The warmth and weight on Felicia's shoulder felt intimate, precious. She almost huffed in protest when cold air replaced it. Her head turned to see Silk staring into her eyes imploringly.

"You know I would do anything to find them again, right?" Silk pressed suddenly, leaning towards her.

Felicia nodded, not sure where this would go.

"Like, I would do _anything_."

"Yeah, you said that." Felicia raised an eyebrow. What exactly was the spider getting to? Did she need help?

"Just.." Silk hesitated, her wide eyes faltering. "Just keep that in mind."

Felicia didn't know how she would be able to forget about this anytime soon but nodded anyways. She was going crossed eye with how close Silk was to her face. _On God_ she wanted to pull that mask down and kiss her.

Silk seemed to realize how close they were and sprang up and away from Felicia. She landed in that spiderman pose both she and Peter seemed to favor, straightened, then touched the scrape of her forehead. Her brows furrowed.

"I'm gonna go now, boss." She tried to lighten her voice, but wasn't doing a very good job at it. Her voice was strained with too much false pep.

"Silk, wait." Felicia stood up quickly. She searched for any excuse to make the spider stay.

The ex-vigilante tilted her head, a stray lock of hair falling down across her face quickly pushed behind her ear.

"The ice rink," she found herself saying. "It's not far from here."

Silk caught on immediately, her eyes lighting up in that way that made Felicia's stomach tie up into knots. A mischievous sparkle chased out the dejected look from before.

"Are you suggesting we break into an ice rink just to skate?" Silk asked. "No ulterior motive, no stealing anything precious?"

"Who's to say," Felicia smirked. Finally, they were back on ground Felicia had experience in. "Are you up for it?"

Silk shot a web out of her fingers as her answer, grabbed it, and waved before falling straight down from the building. A whoop barely reached Felicia's ears, drowned out by the traffic sounds below, as she saw the spider swing from building to building towards where the ice rink was.

A chuckle escaped her and Felicia started running. Something bright and airy filled her chest at the way Silk had lit up because of her suggestion. She was breathless, but not because of roof hopping. She loved the feeling of making Silk happy, seeing her brown eyes turn into crescent moons, a chance that came few and far between in their usual meet ups and business.

Silk was waiting for her at the entrance, leaning on the door. Seeing Felicia land softly on her feet, Silk straightened and nodded at the door. "Feeling lucky?"

"As always," Felicia purred. The door opened at her touch, the security guard must've accidentally forgotten to close it. How lucky.

She led the way to where the skates were held, jumping over the counter to grab skates. Silk told her her foot size and Felicia went off in search for two pairs of skates, switching on lights in the process. She found them and turned around to place them on the counter when she saw Silk staring at her.

"What is it?" Felicia asked, wishing she could read the half-masked girl's full expression.

Silk shook her head. "Your outfit is so not going to cut it for skating."

Felicia was ready to object, jumping on the counter and swinging her legs over, about to cut back with a sardonic retort. She promptly closed her mouth when Silk took a step closer, her stomach nearly touching Felicia's knees. Silk's arms raised and webbing shot out of her fingertips, engulfing Felicia's torso and arms. Soon enough, she was bundled in a relatively thick black jacket.

"There." Silk nodded in approval and grabbed her skates before turning away and leaving Felicia in shock.

"Since when could you do that?" Felicia asked.

"Trade secret." Silk tied her skates quickly, muscle memory clearly taking over as she looked up. She wove herself a black jacket almost identical to Felicia's. "Saves me a lot of money on uniforms."

Felicia tugged the jacket close, jumping off the counter and joining Silk on the benches. So Silk could weave clothing, she wove her own uniform, good to know good to know.

"Helpful," Felicia muttered. She wished she had the power to make her own clothes. Designer brands were expensive these days.

Silk laughed and watched Felicia struggle to tie her skates. Unlike the spider, the cat didn't have as experience on ice.

"Do you want me to tie them?"

Felicia bit back an automatic no, deliberated, then finally nodded. Silk crouched down and skillfully laced up those skates in no time, her dexterous fingers flying.

"How long does the clothing last?" Felicia asked curiously. The jacket felt as real as they came, almost no sign of it being webbing minutes before. It fit her perfectly.

"You know, I never tested out how long it lasted." Silk finished tying the last skate and looked up, puffing her cheeks. "But it should last long enough for at least several days I think."

Silk stood up and balanced her way to the entrance of the rink, opened the door, and stepped slowly on. Felicia watched as Silk tested the ice a bit, using the wall as support before taking to the activity like fish to water.

"Come on!" Silk called, skating in a small circle.

Felicia made a show of grumbling, ignoring the fact that breaking in to ice skate was completely her own idea. She cautiously stepped on the ice, half-convinced it was going to break. It held firm.

Luckily, her equilibrium earrings allowed her to remain balanced and not fall. Silk laughed at her caution, and impulsively grabbed Felicia's hand. She sped off, leaving the Black Cat hanging for dear life.

God, was Silk always this fast?

A gasp tore from her as wind blew into her face. She doubled her grip on Silk's hand, both hands wrapped around one and widened her stance to balance herself better. But once the shock wore off, she watched as Silk's hair streamlined from behind her and actually started to enjoy herself. The chill air bit at her cheeks, the dim lights reflecting the ice. She watched the narrowing of Silk's eyes as they sped laps around the rink, the spider focused on going fast and not letting either of them fall.

They slowed to a stop after one full lap, much to Felicia's chagrin. Her hair was a windswept mess, Silk's not much better, but she didn't mind it.

Silk was breathless from the excursion, skating lazy circles around Felicia after they let go of each other's hands. The red mask hid her mouth, but it was obvious she was grinning from the way her eyes twinkled like crescents. The crisp air had turned her ears red and Felicia fought the urge to skate over and cup them in her hands.

Felicia set off in one direction, sticking close to the wall just in case. Silk followed her, keeping pace and sometimes breaking off to do a fancy trick. She called Felicia excitedly to watch a specific trick or footwork that she remembered from years ago, gracefully leaning on foot to foot as she glided.

"Hockey, you said?" Felicia asked when Silk caught up with her after another footwork trick.

"Yeah." Silk puffed up her chest. "I was a forward."

"Hm," Felicia hummed, not knowing what any of that meant.

Silk skated to a stop in front of her, bending her knees and mimicking holding a hockey stick. She skated backwards as Felicia skated forwards, pretending to dribble a fake puck. Her eyes locked onto Felicia with a raised brow.

"The crowd goes wild as Cin-" Silk caught herself quickly, "Silk scores a goal!" She did a backhand and pretended to look at where the fake puck was headed, one hand shielding her eyes like a golf player. She mimicked the cheer of a crowd, spinning on her skates and jumping an inch off the ice.

Felicia pretended to not notice the slip up, although her mind was reeling with possibilities. Cinder? Cynthia? Cindy? She immediately discarded Cinderella as an option, briefly considering Cinna instead.

"You sure you weren't a figure skater?" Amusement shone through her voice as she watched Silk pretend that the crowd was still going wild, doing bows to an audience of one.

Silk made a face. "I took figure skating lessons when I was young because they were the only ones open for girls. Everyone wanted me to go into figure skating but my eyes were already on the puck."

Felicia eyed the ex-hero's toned thighs sticking out from the black coat as Silk skated to her. She forced her eyes upwards, tracing the silhouette of the jacket to meet Silk's eyes. There was no sign of the previous hopelessness from before, much to Felicia's delight. It was a good call to take the rookie last minute skating, Felicia decided with satisfaction.

They made sure to put the skates back properly, killing the lights and deleting the security footage of their relatively minor crime. Felicia eyed the cash register longingly before leaving it be and following Silk out the door.

Silk was basking in the moonlight, her eyes closed, when Felicia joined her. Her eyes blinked open and she glanced at Felicia with a new look in her eyes. One Felicia never really saw before. Borderline affection, she decided. Silk pinched her mask, as if about to pull it down before pulling it farther up her nose. Felicia stamped down her disappointment in that action.

"Thanks, boss. I needed that."

"Employee satisfaction is one of my top priorities," Felicia replied dryly.

Silk snickered before gently nudging shoulders with Felicia. "You're not all bad, Cat."

_No_ , she thought. _I'm worse_.

With that, a web was slung and Silk -- aka Cin-something Last name something -- was gone.

Felicia watched the webslinger sling away with a dreamy smile on her lips. She hugged the coat around her tighter, basically hugging herself. She wasn't going to get rid of this free jacket anytime soon. Maybe if she asked nicely, Silk could spin her more fashionable wear.

-

"Highly advanced facial recognition software. It scans every single camera in the world for anything remotely resembling my face and then deletes it." Felicia explained smoothly, "Courtesy of our Stark heist a few weeks ago."

Silk's tone was joking. "Any chance you can add my face to deleting? I have no interest in getting locked away again."

That stopped Felicia in her tracks. Again with the locked up references. "You were in jail?"

"It's a long story." Silk deflected. "So what's the rest of this stuff?"

"I'll tell you when you tell me the long story." Felicia frowned, she was going to get to the bottom of this.

"What's to tell?" Silk shrugged, eyes flitting around like she was looking for somewhere to hide. They really needed to work on her conversation skills. "I was good, then I was bad. The end."

"And the jail part?"

"I was unlucky. It wasn't jail, really." Silk looked away. "I was locked away for 10 years. Alone. Like I said.. long story."

"Ten years, that's.." Felicia was momentarily speechless. "I'm sorry."

Silk attempted a chuckle and changed the topic to why she crossed over the street. Felicia let her, still reeling from the new information.

_Ten years_?

So that was why she couldn't see her family, or why she said she hadn't skated in a long time. Why would someone like Silk be locked up? Felicia swore that if she ever caught the person who did it that they would never see the light of day.

Later, she got the whole story. Or at least the full amount Silk was willing to reveal. She still felt that some things were left out, something related to a certain Spider-Man. Felicia wasn't dumb, she didn't miss the hesitation at the part where Silk was describing the spider bite.

She looked at Silk with newfound respect. "Took a lot of courage to make that decision. And a lot of strength to survive."

"Okay, your turn." Silk said after some reflection. Her eyes read that she wouldn't take no for an answer. So Felicia relented.

At the end, when Silk asked her if she thought hanging up the tights would work, Felicia was glad for the alarm that interrupted them. Because she didn't have an answer.

-

She should've anticipated the betrayal.

Silk was too good, always going out of her way to help people. There was no way a superhero like her would suddenly want in on a crime organization.

Still, she had let the rookie in. Sympathized with her. Trusted her. Cared for her.

_Because there are no streets, right_? Felicia thought bitterly. A superhero could easily become a villain and vice versa. She knew because she had flip flopped sides more than she could count. When she learned that Silk wanted in, she had assumed against her better judgement that the spider was like her. That couldn't be further from the truth.

She could still feel Silk's head on her shoulder from that night. Another phantom she wouldn't get rid of soon, maybe never. She wished she could.

_It's time for Silk to be a good guy again._

Felicia internally scoffed. The handler, agent, whatever she was, had shut down every single thing Silk had attempted to say. Everything Felicia wanted to hear Silk say.

_Black cat isn't--_

_Isn't what?_ Felicia thought scathingly. _A criminal? All bad?_ Because she was. She was worse than bad, and she would show that to Silk. She _did_ show Silk.

She remembered the last words the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent had said, caught on the coattails of the wind. _I'll assign more agents to your parent's case. We'll find them, promise_.

Felicia stared down at Silk's unconscious body in the dumpster. Tears pricked her eyes but she refused to let them fall. Her mind was a mess, God, _she_ was a mess.

_I would do anything to find them_

Silk's words at that time had been a warning, Felicia realized. At the time she had taken those words for granted, because of course Silk would do anything to find her family -- she loved them. Felicia just hadn't known that betrayal would stem from it.

"Boss, we gotta go. This place is crawling with S.H.I.E.L.D."

Felicia hadn't known that Silk would have to choose between family or _her_.

"Boss, do you hear me? It was a trap. They took everything. Everything."

Felicia took one last look at Silk below her. A black eye, a badly bleeding cut on her forehead. Bruises everywhere. She memorized that face, or what she could see of it. The face of another betrayer. Just like Spider-Man.

"No, not everything."

**Author's Note:**

> Breaking into ice rinks to cheer up your hockey gf can be something so personal <3 
> 
> Was this slightly ooc? Probably, I just wanted to write a smitten Felicia Hardy
> 
> Me while writing: might as well just pepper in some personal hcs while I'm at it


End file.
